Kathmandu, Oct 31 (RSS)-Police have arrested former lawmaker and CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Balkrishna Dhungel from the Satdobato area in Lalitpur today, the Nepal Police confirmed. Dhungel, pronounced guilty in the murder of one Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga during the conflict in the country, had been absconding since the court verdict.
In May, 2004 the Okhaldhunga District Court had convicted Dhungel on Shrestha’s murder case dating back to 1998. He had served a brief time in jail before getting a clean chit from the Rajbiraj Appellate Court where he had filed a writ, challenging the district court’s order.
The Supreme Court had, in 2010, upholding the district court’s order, sentenced him to life imprisonment along with confiscation of all property. The SC verdict was in response to the appeal by victim’s sister Sabitri Shrestha. But, he was never arrested before.
It may be noted that the Supreme Court in April this year, acting upon a writ petition filed by lawyer Dinesh Tripathi against the police’s failure to arrest the murder convict, directed the Nepal Police chief to issue an arrest warrant against Dhungel.
Dhungel was arrested in course of the implementation of the court verdict, Nepal Police spokesperson Manoj Neupane said.
